DUMB HEAD / Ginny Arnell

In early 1964 the American pop music scene was under assault; the Beatles were making pop music history and leading the way for what would be called the British invasion of the American charts. Many established domestic artists were feeling the squeeze as it became harder and harder to repeat past chart successes. For new up and coming domestic artists, the task of charting even a moderate hit record became even tougher as American teenagers went crazy with Beatlemania.

Ginny Arnell was one of the new American artists left in the wake of British bands. Ginny's song, “Dumb Head”, was catchy and much in the style of female singers of the early 1960's, even using an instrumental passage featuring a kazoo, reminiscent of the 1962 Joanie Sommers hit “Johnny Get Angry”, which successfully used the same effect. However, the arrangement of "Dumb Head" was somewhat on the cutting edge as it employed an early type of fuzz tone guitar.

“Dumb Head” might have done much better had it been released in early 1963, before the explosive shift in pop music. Ginny could easily match the singing talent of any of her contemporaries. Unfortunately, the course of pop music had changed.

On 2/1/64, “Dumb Head” peaked @ #60 on the Cash box chart; peaked as high as #36 on various radio station surveys.